Saracens have confirmed that the club will play two more matches at Wembley Stadium this season. Brendan Venter's men will stage their Heineken Cup clash with Leinster at the 90,000 capacity arena on October 16, before returning to the London venue on December 26 for their Aviva Premiership game against London Wasps.

Sarries chairman Nigel Wray said: "Saracens at Wembley has quickly become synonymous with a great family day out including great rugby and great entertainment for a great price at a great venue. We are delighted to take these two outstanding matches to Wembley, and we look forward to two more fantastic occasions."

Beziers have announced the signing of former All Blacks fly-half Andrew Merhrtens. The 37-year-old New Zealander, whose contract with Racing Metro expired at the end of last season, has penned a three-year deal with the French third division outfit. Merhrtens will join the Beziers coaching staff when he eventually decides to call time on his stellar career.

Sale Sharks have announced the appointment of former Rugby Football League director of coaching David Wilks as assistant to academy manager Ray Unsworth. Wilks, who was forced to stop playing competitive rugby at the age of 30 because of a series of knee injuries, will fulfill his duties on a part-time basis as he is to continue as community development manager at Fylde.

"I've always combined playing with coaching and community projects, recently setting up initiatives in Manchester," Wilks said. "I'm looking forward to working with Ray in helping Sale Sharks spread further into the North West, with increased involvement across a wider area. All young players should aspire to play for Sale Sharks, the north west's Premiership rugby union club."

Ulster head coach Brian McLaughlin has included new signings Johann Muller and Pedrie Wannenburg in his squad for Friday's pre-season friendly against Bath at Ravenhill. However, the South African duo have not been joined in the panel by Ulster's Ireland contingent, who have been given extra time off to recover from their summer tour of the southern hemisphere.

Bayonne have been rocked by the news that star summer signing Troy Flavell has been ruled out of action for four weeks. The former All Blacks lock suffered a hamstring injury during a pre-season run-out against Saracens last week.

Connacht head coach Eric Elwood has confirmed that John Muldoon will continue on as the province's captain this season. The Ireland flanker led the Westerners into the last four of the European Challenge Cup while at the same time establishing himself as a regular in the Ireland squad.

Given that he is currently out of action with a broken arm sustained in the summer clash with the All Blacks in New Plymouth, the news that the captain's armband will be waiting for him upon his return to first-team action has come as a timely boost.

"I was very disappointed coming off the field against New Zealand as I knew I had done serious damage and would be out for a bit, but I was delighted when Eric showed his faith in me by appointing me as the captain again," the flanker said.

"It is a great honour to lead your province out onto the field and we are all looking forward the start of the season, hopefully we can take the momentum from the end of last season and bring that forward into this year."

Mostyn Richards has been appointed as Ospreys team manager with immediate effect. The former Welsh Rugby Union (WRU) elite performance manager succeeds Dani Delamere in the role. Delamere will work alongside Richards before moving into an extended role incoporarting commerical and player appearance activities.